Plastic surgeons are picking lucrative private practice, professor says
Too many young doctors are leaving public heath system for lucrative private beauty treatments, says a senior reconstructive surgeon
Young plastic surgeons are turning their backs on those suffering terrible burns or skin conditions for the lucrative world of private beauty treatment, a leading surgeon says.
The trend is creating the misconception that specialising in reconstructive surgery is "easy and lucrative" at a time when the city's public hospitals cope with just 12 plastic-surgery specialists between them, says Professor Andrew Burd, head of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin.
Burd's research team is planning pioneering stem-cell treatment for abandoned three-year-old Shun Shun, who suffers from an agonising, previously untreatable skin disease.
Burd is appealing for donations of umbilical cords in the hope that his researchers will be able to find a match for Shun Shun.
The boy's painful blisters all over his body have left him bandaged and unable to leave hospital since he was born.
"Plastic surgery is not easy at all, sometimes it means taking care of the sickest patient with major burns, which are extremely difficult to treat and require a very long process of care," said Burd, citing Shun Shun's case as an example. "But people always confuse the subject with cosmetic surgery, which helps people who are essentially normal for their sex and age but want to enhance their appearance surgically."
As the beauty industry continues to grow, performing a facelift or a breast enhancement, carrying out a Botox injection or using a laser to remove body hair have become attractive options for young doctors.